Lot 36: Ivor Roberts-Jones, R.A. (1913-1996)

Somerset Maugham; portrait head
plaster
13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm) high, excluding base
Conceived in 1963. The present work is an original unique studio plaster.

Cardiff, Oriel Gallery, July - September 1978, no. 20.
Ipswich, Wolsey Gallery, Christchurch Mansion, December 1999 - January 2000, no. B/H L5.
Essex, Chappel Galleries, July - August 2000, no. 39.

P. Cannon-Brookes, Ivor Roberts-Jones, London, 1983, p. 47.

The present work was commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook and was modelled in clay at Somerset Maugham's house at Cap Ferrat, and at least one sitting in Roberts-Jones' studio in Holland Park. Peter Cannon-Brookes gives an account of the sittings: 'the sculptor has recounted the event in some detail: "it was a great experience staying at Cap Ferrat and working in his villa. Apart from the conversation at lunch my main impression was of his courage. He was 87 but quite indomitable. I had said in the early stages that I would like him to give me one or two sittings on the flat roof in the open air. He had his writing-room, with Gaugin painted doors, up there, but it was a very cold February. He was recovering from a virus pneumonia - and I was horrified one day to find him already settled up there, in the open, clutching a hot-water bottle to his chest and wrapped up in layers of blanket. He couldn't be budged. At one stage he went blue - the level of colour dropping down his features as I have seen it do in men suffering from total exhaustion. I moved forward to catch him, but the level of colour shortly re-adjusted itself and the sitting returned to normal"' (Ivor Roberts-Jones, London, 1983, p. 47).

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